Easy chair



June 19, 1962 w. R. BLACK ETAL EASY CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 16, 1960 INVENTORS Warren B Blacfli Bzor t/lezzz'idon WITNESS ATTORNEY June 19,v 1952 w. R. BLACK ETAL 3,039,821

EASY CHAIR Filed Sept. 16v, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 5l INVENTORS 32 48 4.5' 48 ,f7-carrer; R. Blacfl .Bror WHenriliJon.

WITNESS BY X573 5 Va/M7 S' @www ATTORNEY June 19, 1962 w. R. BLACK ETAL 3,039,821

EASY CHAIR Filed Sept. 16, 1960 4 SheetS--Sheel'I 3 INVENTORS Warren R..Bladl .Bzor WHenr-iliaon WITNESS BY fm1/Uu, wmf/U. W we ATTORNEY June 19, 1962 w, R. BLACK ETAL EASY CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed sept. 16, 1960 ooooooooool INVENTORS 7a2-ren .R...ladli Bz'or WHezzz'- Jon ooooooooog/ 0000000000000000 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WITNESS ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,039,821 EASY CHAIR Warren R. Black and Bror W. Henriksen, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignors `to American Seating Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 56,463

2 Claims. (Cl. 297-343) The present invention relates to easy chairs.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide an easy chair Which is shiftable between a retracted pod sition wherein the seat is disposed rearwardly and the back is relatively upright, and a reclined position wherein the seat is disposed forwardly and the back is recumbent; to provide such an easy chair which when in its retracted position will remain in that position so long as the chair occupant remains in a normal upright sitting position but which, when the chair occupant swings his feet forward and upward thus increasing the load on the front of the seat, will automatically shift to its reclined position; to provide such a chair which is especially adapted for use in hospital patient rooms, and particularly for the use of the convalescent patient, the chair being designed and constructed so as to facilitate the patients getting into it and up out of it; to provide such a chair having other novel features of construction as hereinafter particularly described; and in general to provide an easy chair which is quiet and eicient in operation, reasonably economical in manufacture and attractive in appearance.

An iillustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the new easy chair, the seat and back being here shown in their retracted positions;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the chair with an occupant therein, illustrating how the chair automatically shifts to a reclined position when the legs of the occupant are swung forward and upward;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of the chair with the seat cushion and back cushion removed;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view of the same taken on line 4--4 of FIGURE 3, the moving parts of the chair being here shown in their retracted positions;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional View similar to FIG- URE 4 and showing the moving parts of the chair in their reclined positions;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary detail sectional view of parts of the chair mechanism, the plane of section being the same as that of FIGURE 4, and the moving parts being shown in retracted positions;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 6 and showing the same parts in their reclined positions;

FIGURE 8 is a further enlarged sectional View of the same parts of the chair, taken on line 8 8 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 9 is a top plan view of the frame only of the chair, the entire chair seat and back being omitted, and with certain parts of the frame broken away;

FIGURE 10 is an enlarged, vertical sectional view of parts of the chair frame, taken on line 10-10 of FIG- URE 9;

'FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary, inside elevational view of the frame parts shown in FIGURE 10;

`FIGURE 12 is a front elevational View of the chair frame per se;

`FIGURE 13 is a front elevational view of the chair back frame per se;

FIGURE 14 is a vertical sectional View of the same taken on line 14-14 of FIGURE 13;

FIGURE 15 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the same taken on line 15-15 of FIGURE 13.

`FIGURE 16 is a top plan view of the chair seat frame per se;

ICC

FIGURE 17 is a vertical sectional View of the same taken on line 17-17 of FIGURE 16; and

FIGURE 18 is an enlarged, fragmentary vertical sectional view of parts thereof, taken on line 18--18 of FIGURE 16.

Referring now in detail to these drawings, the chair there shown is supported by spaced, upright standards having armrests 20, front legs 21 and rear legs 22 depending from the armrests 20, and forwardly-rearwardly extending side rails 23 connecting the front and rear pairs of legs at opposite sides of the chair and at the approximate seat level of the chair. The front legs 21 and rear legs 22 are the legs of inverted U-shaped, tubular metal frame members having substantially horizontal upper portions 24 to which the armrests are attached as by means of screws 25 (see FIGURES 4 and 5). The armrests 2.@ are desirably of a molded plastic material. The rails 23 are of cross-sectionally rectangular tubular metal and are secured to the front and rear chair legs as by means of welding. The supporting standards are connected by three tubular metal crossbars, including a first or front crossbar 26 connecting the rails 23 near the front thereof, a second or upper rear crossbar 27 connecting the rear legs 22 near their upper ends, and a third or lower rear crossbar 2S connecting the rails 23 near the rear ends thereof. These three crossbars are all secured to the standards as by means of welding.

Brackets 29 are secured as by welding to the inner faces of the rails 23 and extend inwardly from the rails and then downwardly. Openings through the downwardly extending portions 30 of the brackets 29 constitute enclosed tracks 31 which extend forwardly-rearwardly and which have downwardly emending sockets 32 at the rearward ends of the tracks.

The chair seat comprises a seat frame 33 and an upholstered seat cushion 34, and the chair back comprises a back frame 35 and an upholstered back cushion 36. As seen in FIGURES 1618, the seat frame 33 comprises a rearwardly opening U-shaped tubular metal frame portion 37, a tubular metal cross-strut portion 38 secured as by welding to the legs of the frame portion 37 near the rearward ends of said legs, and a perforated sheet metal panel 39 secured as by welding to the frame portions 37 and 38. As seen in FIGURES 13-15, the back frame 35 comprises a downwardly opening U-shaped tubular metal frame portion 40, a tubular metal crossstrut portion 41 secured as by welding to the legs of the frame portion 48 near the lower ends of said legs, and a perforated sheet metal panel 42 secured as by welding to the frame portions 40 and 41.

Pivot members 43 are secured as by means of set screws 44 in the rearward extremities of the legs of the seat frames U-shaped tubular portion 37, and these pivot members 43 have apertured bearing lugs 45 extending rearwardly beyond the seat frame. Other pivot members 46 are secured as by means of set screws 47 in the lower extremities of the legs of the back frames U-shaped tubular portion 40, and these pivot members 46 have pairs of apertured bearing lugs 4S extending downwardly below the -back frame. Each pair of bearing lugs 48 on the back frame embraces therebetween a bearing lug 45 on the seat frame, and pivot pins 49 pass outwardly through the aligned apertures in the two sets of bearing lugs. The chair seat and chair back are thus pivotally interconnected at the rear of the seat and the bottom of the back.

The pivot pins 49 extend outwardly and into the tracks 31 in brackets 29, and rollers 50 are turnably mounted on the pivot pins 49 and are secured in position thereon as by means of nuts 51 threaded on the extreme outer ends of :the pivot pins (see FIGURES 6-8). The pivot pins and the rollers thereon constitute projecting means guided by the tracks 31 forwardly-rearwardly and vertically into and out of the sockets 32.

The forward part of the seat frame is supported forwardly of the tracks 31 by the rst or front tubular crossbar 26. Nylon rollers 52 having concave peripheries are turnably mounted on said crossbar 26, and the forwardly-rearwardly extending side portions of the tubular metal seat frame ride in the concavities of these rollers 52 during forward and rearward shifting movements of the seat. The chair back frame is supported rearwardly of and above the tracks 31 by the second or upper rear crossbar 27. Stainless steel runners 53 are secured as by means of screws 54 to the rear surfaces of the tubular metal back frames side portions, and these runners 53 ride on the crossbar 27 during shifting movements of the chair back.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the chair seat and chair back are pivotally interconnected and so movably supported that the easy chair is shiftable between a retracted position wherein the seat is disposed rearwardly and the back is relatively upright, and a reclined position wherein the seat is disposed forwardly and the back is recumbent. The various parts of the structure are so proportioned and arranged that when the rollers S? are seated in the sockets 32 of the tracks 3l and when the chair occupant remains in a normal upright sitting position the chair will remain in its retracted position, but when the occupant swings his feet forward and upward thus increasing the load on the front of the seat, the seat will fulcrum about rollers 52 thus lifting rollers 50 out of sockets 32 and thus permitting the chair to automatically assume a reclined position. The weight of the occupants torso against the chair back tends to shift the chair toward the reclined position. The chair may be returned to its retracted position by the occupants placing his feet on the iloor, leaning forward and then simply hunching rearwardly.

The form and location of the armrests 20 is such as to `assist a convalescent patient to get into and out of the chair. It will be seen that the armrests extend as far forwardly as does Vthe chair seat in its retracted position. Thus 'when the occupant grasps the armrests at the very front he is accorded great leverage in shifting his body between a sitting position and a standing position in front of the chair.

While but one specific embodiment of the invention relatively upright, and a reclined position wherein the seat is disposed forwardly and the back is recumbent, said chair comprising: spaced, upright supporting standards provided with enclosed tracks on their insides at the approximate seat level of the chair, said tracks extending Vfoiwardly-rearwardly and having downwardly extending sockets at the rearward ends of the tracks; a chair seat and back assembly in which the seat and back are pivotally interconnected at the rear of the seat and the bottom of the back and said assembly having outwardly projecting means movable in said tracks forwardly and rearwardly and vertically into and out of said sockets; `a tubular metal crossbar connecting the standards near the front thereof and beneath the chair seat for shiftably supporting the seat forwardly of said tracks, said supporting means being so positioned that when the seat is in retracted position the major portion thereof lies rearwardly of the supporting means so that said projecting means are forced downwardly into said sockets to maintain the seat in said retracted position and said seat when in retracted position extending forwardly of said supporting means a suicient distance so that `a downward force applied to the front of the seat will fulcrum the seat about said supporting means thus to lift said projecting means out of said sockets and permit forward movement of said projecting means in said tracks and movement of said seat and back to their reclined positions.

2. An easy chair `according to claim l in which the seat in its forward and rearward movements rides on rollers turnably mounted on said tubular metal crossbar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNTTED STATES PATENTS 568,679 Healy Sept. 29, 1896 1,802,609 Krause Apr. 28, 1931 2,400,588 McArthur M-ay 21, 1946 2,656,878 Reinholz Oct. 27, 1953 2,751,970 Smith June 26, 1956 2,770,286 Weller NOV. 13, 1956 

